South Dakota State football: 'This will light a fire under us'

Brady Mengarelli says the loss to YSU will serve as a wake-up call for SDSU(Photo: Argus Leader file photo)

BROOKINGS – South Dakota State suffered its first loss Saturday in Youngstown, Ohio, falling 19-7 to the Penguins in a game where the Jackrabbits were outgained 448-222 and held the ball for less than 15 minutes.

It was a battle of teams ranked 4th (SDSU) and 5th in the FCS poll at the time, and while YSU is now up to 3rd and SDSU is 9th, it was still a humbling defeat for the Jacks. Coming off a less-than-spectacular non-conference season, it was enough to raise some questions about whether something’s wrong with the blue and yellow.

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But SDSU players insisted the loss would not shake their confidence, and at Wednesday’s practice it was apparent the Jacks have taken the loss seriously. They recognize that the team they’ve been through the first month isn’t good enough.

“It will definitely light a fire under us,” said senior running back Brady Mengarelli. “We’ll stop being comfortable, it wakes us up a little more. I don’t think we were unprepared for Youngstown, but I think now there’s an understanding that, hey, we have to grind for every game this season. It definitely woke us up.”

Said nose tackle Kellen Soulek: “It brings us back to earth a little bit. It shows us we’re not where we want to be. Any loss is bad, whether it’s by one point or 20 points, but this will definitely motivate us the rest of the year.”

Coach John Stiegelmeier said the entire team has to be objective in how they evaluate the loss. While dwelling on a loss can lead to another one, it’s worth noting that the Jacks seem to have taken the time to internalize the loss.

“You’d love to say it was flushed right away, but it wasn’t,” Mengarelli said. “I think Sunday, for most of us, was kind of a day or mourning. You’re upset, you’re thinking about the game and what you did wrong, what you could’ve done better. You’re questioning everything. But then by Monday it’s like, OK, it’s time to forget it and move on to Southern Illinois. There’s a lot of season left.”

That was a point quarterback Taryn Christion made in the aftermath of the loss. SDSU didn’t have the proverbial chip on their shoulder in September. They’ll enter October with an air of defiance. SDSU hosts Southern Illinois this weekend.

“All of our goals are still in front of us,” Christion said last Saturday. “That’s what (Stiegelmeier) emphasized to us in the locker room. This was a tough loss but it doesn’t change any of our goals. It just shows us we still have a lot of work to do to reach them.”

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